


"Written on Your Skin" Was a Terrible Movie

by szm



Series: Daredevil Kink Meme [5]
Category: Daredevil (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Domestic Violence, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-03
Updated: 2015-08-03
Packaged: 2018-04-12 16:25:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 8,201
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4486572
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/szm/pseuds/szm
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Based on a prompt from the Daredevil Kink Meme (http://daredevilkink.dreamwidth.org/3230.html?thread=6155166#cmt6155166)</p><p>"Around 85% of the population have SoulMarks. 15% of the population never develop them, I didn’t,” she said with a half-smile. “But I still managed to fall in love and get married anyway. Of the people who do develop SoulMarks around 5% have more than one name. This is not, despite what some of the more fundamentally religious of our community may tell you, in anyway biologically abnormal. Nor does it automatically make anyone a ‘slut’ or a ‘freak’.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Karen had lessons about SoulMarks at high school, like everyone does, most of the students used that time to catch up on homework, sleep, or socialising. Because who _didn’t_ know about SoulMarks? They were the subject of every romcom film, every trashy romance novel. There were hilarious mistaken identity stories. There were the tragic stories where someone died then their soul mate found the Mark and everyone cried. There were impossible fantasy stories where SoulMarks brought your love back from the dead, or made time travel possible.

Karen _loved_ all of them, and she even loved the lessons at school. She traced the beautiful dark letters on the tops of her feet. Tried to imagine what it would be like to meet your soul mate, would you know? All at once? Her Mom said it had been like that when she’d first seen Karen’s Dad. Time slowed down and music played. Karen’s Dad didn’t talk about things like that.

Karen remembered the teacher. Mrs Brown. And everything she told them in those lessons.

_”Around 85% of the population have SoulMarks. 15% of the population never develop them, I didn’t,” she said with a half-smile. “But I still managed to fall in love and get married anyway. Of the people who do develop SoulMarks around 5% have more than one name. This is not, despite what some of the more fundamentally religious of our community may tell you, in anyway biologically abnormal. Nor does it automatically make anyone a ‘slut’ or a ‘freak’. If I ever catch anyone using those terms in this school? They will have so much detention that their _grandchildren_ will have to finish it for them.”_

Karen had two names. One on the top of each foot, Franklin on the right and Matthew on the left. She dated a Matthew and a Franklin at different times in high school. ‘Frankie’, as he was more commonly known, didn’t have a SoulMark at all. He was sweet and lovely, until he found out Karen had two SoulMarks, then he broke up with her. He whispered cruel things behind her back and looked at her sideways with a group of his friends when she walked down the corridor. 

Matthew was actually the first person she ever fell head over heels in love with. It broke her heart when he confessed he had a SoulMark on the sole of his left foot that said ‘Sarah’. He cried when Karen broke up with him, saying that SoulMarks didn’t really mean anything. Lots of people fell in love and got together with people who were different to their SoulMark. Your soul mate could live in another state, another country even. People sometimes ended up with the wrong people, accidently thinking that this was the one because they had each-others names on them but it wasn’t the right ‘Simon’ or ‘Rachel’. 

And all of that was true, but Karen wanted the story. She wanted to find at least one of the people she was ‘meant to be’ with.

_”SoulMarks are often described in popular media as ‘meant to be’. Which may very well be true. But all relationships, pre-destined or not require work. If you never remember anything else from these lessons remember this. Don’t take a person for granted.”_

Foggy’s Dad had a SoulMark on his forearm, it was always peeking out from under his rolled-up shirt sleeves. The same dark, fancy writing as every other SoulMark in the world. It said ‘Rosalind’ which was the name of Foggy’s birth mother, the woman who had walked out on Foggy and his Dad when Foggy was six months old. Foggy grew up hating the mark on his Fathers arm. 

His Mom, his actual _Mom_ , the woman who raised him and loved him, didn’t have a SoulMark at all. Foggy had two. Matthew and Mary, written right over his heart sharing the same over-sized ‘M’. 

One day when Foggy was fifteen, and angry, and stupid, and a boy called Matt had stomped all over his heart, and Rosalind had broken yet another promise, he yelled at his Dad. About how much he hated Rosalind and SoulMarks and how he wished he could scrub his off and just live his own fucking life. His Dad just hugged him tightly and waited until the angry tears subsided. 

“Without our SoulMarks maybe me and Rosalind would never have given it a try. She was so out of my league, kiddo. If I hadn’t seen my name on her hand when she was taking her glove off, maybe I would never have plucked up the courage to talk to her.”

“Wouldn’t you have been better off?” asked Foggy scrubbing at his wet face still angry and hurt. “She broke your heart.”

“Wouldn’t have you then,” said his Dad with a kind smile. “Wouldn’t have met your Mom.” He smiled at his wife stood in the doorway. “And she’s the love for my life. But even taking two of my very favourite people out of the equation, I wouldn’t have given up those three years with Rosalind anyway. We didn’t last forever, too different in the end. But she was an amazing woman, being with her made me who I am now. And let’s face facts, kiddo. I’m pretty great.”

That made Foggy chuckle, the dark cloud lifted for a second but then it came crashing back and Foggy could feel fresh tears coming. “Why aren’t I good enough? Rosalind never even turns up when she says she’s going to anymore, and Matt…” Foggy couldn’t finish the sentence. 

His Mom came up behind him, stroking his hair out of his face. “You are my beautiful boy; you are so much more than ‘good enough’. You, your Dad, your sister, and me, we are the best family in the world. I found you, and I was smart enough to keep you. One day you’ll find the people you are supposed to be with, SoulMarks or no. And you, my darling, will be so smart and work so hard that you will get to _keep_ them.”

The three of them stood in the lounge hugging for a few moments. “I’m in trouble for cursing aren’t I?” said Foggy eventually.

“Yep,” said his Mom not breaking the hug.

“Grounded for a week,” agreed his Dad, smiling into Foggy’s hair.

_“Some people are born with their SoulMarks. Some people develop them during childhood. There have been cases of people as old as twenty developing a Mark. But generally if you don’t have one by the time your twelve you’re not going to get one. Oddly, and no-one knows why, the older you are the more it hurts when your Mark comes in.”_

Matt has never seen his SoulMarks. 

He was ten when his Mark burned its way onto the skin of his left side over his ribs. The two names ran together with no spaces, diagonally following the line of his rib. MaryFranklin. It _hurt_ , Matt figured his senses made it worse. It burned without being hot. He fell to the floor, which meant he couldn’t avoid or block the hit from the heavy wooden Nunchuck that Stick had aimed at him so it hit his back hard. But his side hurt worse. 

“What’s the matter?” asked Stick roughly. “Get up and block.”

Matt pulled himself up. Stick swung his weapon again. Matt focused past the pain, managing to catch the Nunchucks and wrenching them out of the old man’s grip. He threw them away and shouted out in pain, dropping back down to his knees, clutching his side.

Stick knelt next to him, pulling his hand away and laying his own hand over Matt’s side. “What is it?” he asked sounding confused.

“It burns,” said Matt though gritted teeth. “But it’s getting better.”

“It’s not hot,” said Stick. “Seems like you’re getting a SoulMark.” Stick sounded almost disgusted.

Matt felt his heart jump, he wasn’t expecting one. His Dad never had one. He didn’t know how to react to it. “What does it say?” he asked Stick without thinking.

Stick snorted. “I got about as much idea as you,” he said standing up.

Matt lifted his shirt and ran his hand over the still sore, but not actually feeling like burning anymore, area of skin. It didn’t feel any different to any other patch of skin. 

“Get up,” said Stick. “We’ll start again.”

Matt asked one of the Nun’s later to look at his side. “Oh Matt!” she said excitedly. “You have a SoulMark. You know my Mother said they were God’s handwriting.”

“Erm… but, what does it say, Sister?” asked Matt. Hating the fact he had to ask.

“Of course,” she said, Matt tried not to visibly bristle at the pity in her voice. She paused a moment to long before she told him what it said. “It says Mary Franklin. So unusual to get the girls first and last name. She must be very special.”

Matt was only just learning how to read heartbeats but he could tell even then that she didn’t really believe what she was saying. Because Matt had heard people call SoulMarks God’s handwriting before, but he’d also heard the same people say having more than one name was a mark of the Devil.


	2. Chapter 2

_”When you're soul mate dies, your SoulMark will gradually fade. The process typically takes around six to eight weeks.”_

Marci’s SoulMark used to be on her right hip. It said ‘Joseph’. Marci had grown-up next door to Joseph Tanner. He’d been her best friend, then her boyfriend. He’d had ‘Marci’ written across the back of his neck. Marci would talk about him sometimes if Foggy approached her in the right way when she was happy and settled. Not something she was very often, Marci was the most _driven_ person Foggy knew.

They’d been together for a few weeks before Foggy had asked her about it. It was generally considered rude to talk about other people’s Marks. But seeing as how the first time Marci saw Foggy’s Mark she’d laughed out loud and told him that having a SoulMark right over his heart was solid proof he was an incurable romantic, he wasn't too worried about offending her. They were lying together in bed, after some truly amazing sex, and Foggy traced the delicate lettering lightly with his finger.

“That’s not a SoulMark,” he said. Not judging or even thinking very hard about what he was saying. Marci tensed up but told him the story. Joe and Marci had been in a car. Joe’s dad was driving them to senior prom. It was raining and the road was very wet. The other car came out of nowhere. Marci was the only one who survived. Her mark had started to fade almost immediately; it was completely gone within two weeks. A year after the accident she’d gotten a tattoo to replace it.

He pulled her a little closer and said. “I’m sorry.”

“Foggy, I like you, please don’t get weird about it,” she said with a sigh. 

Foggy frowned. “Why would I get weird?”

Marci shrugged. “People do. Like they think I should have joined a Nunnery or something after Joe died. Like I’m cheating on a dead guy.”

“That’s just ridiculous,” said Foggy. “What? You’re just supposed to be alone for the rest of your life?”

Marci burrowed even closer. “See, I knew I liked you.”

They talked about SoulMarks a lot after that. Foggy thought that Marci had probably needed it for a while. Someone she could talk to about it with them feeling over the top sorry for her, or treating her like some kind of terrible person. Foggy told her about his parents. He'd never even told Matt about Rosalind. And his decision to ignore his own Marks as much as possible. If he fell in love he wanted it to be for the person, not their name.

“So, do you think Murdock is ‘Matthew’,” she asked once, timing it just as Foggy took a sip of coffee, smirking as he spluttered.

“Maybe,” he admitted.

“What does he think?” she asked coyly.

“He doesn’t know,” said Foggy with a shrug, not quite meeting Marci’s eyes. 

“You’re keeping a secret from Saint Murdock?” she laughed.

“He doesn’t think of me like that, and I don’t want some genetic quirk to influence him,” explained Foggy. 

Marci waved him off. “Oh like you two aren’t in luuurrrve…” she dragged the word out and made a stupid kissy face.

Foggy laughed. “I feel, as my girlfriend, you should be less happy about that possibility.”

Marci smiled her shark smile, the one that made her look beautiful and deadly. “Foggy-bear, I will never be in love with anyone like I was with Joe. It would be churlish of me to expect something from you I can’t give. Your funny, not stupid, and are A+ at oral sex. You’ll do for now.”

“Why thank you, Miss Stahl,” replied Foggy with his own grin. “Back attacha.”

“You're welcome, Mr Nelson.” She sipped her coffee, mischief in her eyes. Foggy knew it wasn’t over. “So are you on Murdock’s SoulMark?”

Foggy groaned. “Marci! In a civilized society we do not ask people we are not intimate with about any SoulMarks they may or may not have.”

“Screw civilized!” said Marci with feeling. “Come on Foggy-bear. I know you know.”

Foggy sighed heavily. “It’s on his side; I can see it when he hasn’t got a shirt on. Plus he flashed me once when he was drunk. It says ‘Mary’.” Foggy consoled himself that he was absolutely not lying.

Marci clapped her hands together in joy. “Mary! Just like you. I hope he’s got your name somewhere else. You, Murdock, and some poor girl called Mary! It’s like the plot of a truly awful film.”

 _”A SoulMark is personal to the person who has it. You never have to disclose it to anyone if you don’t want to. Pressuring someone to show you a Mark or tell you what it says is a form of sexual harassment under the law. If someone chooses to show you their SoulMark it is a gift of trust._ ”

Matt was drunk when Foggy first saw his SoulMark. Sat in a terrible bar, back before they found the delightful oasis of Josie’s, Matt decided that the funniest thing in the world would be to repeat Foggy’s name over and over. 

“FoggyFoggyFoggyFoggyFoggy,” he said laughing and leaning heavily on Foggy’s shoulder. “FoggyFoggyFoggy, short for Franklin.”

“Don’t call me that,” said Foggy wincing. Rosalind was the only one who still called him that.

“Why not?” asked Matt. “I like it. Frrrranklinnn. Been one of my two favourite names since I was ten.” 

“Oh yeah,” said Foggy grinning at his extremely drunk friend. “Why’s that then.”

“It’s on my SoulMark,” said Matt proudly. Then he frowned. “At least people tell me it is.”

“You’ve never seen your SoulMark?” asked Foggy, the idea seeming overwhelmingly strange for some reason.

Matt shook his head. “No,” he leaned further up and felt round for Foggy’s ear. Putting his lips against it when he found it to whisper. “Cus I’m blind.”

Foggy laughed with him and gave him a gentle shove. Not thinking about Matt’s warm breath in his ear. “You weren’t always, jerk.”

“You’re a jerk!” replied Matt still laughing. “Blind at nine, SoulMark came in at ten,” he explained. “I asked a Nun what it said. She had to tell the truth. She was a Nun. Well, she lied a bit. She said it was one name. I think it’s two.”

“Two?” asked Foggy, rubbing his suddenly sweaty palms on his jeans. “What does the other one say? Oh god! Sorry, I shouldn’t have asked that!” he said mortified at the words that had fallen out of his mouth.

“You can read them for me!” said Matt jumping out of his seat with far more grace than at person who was that drunk should be able to manage. He lifted his shirt before Foggy could stop him. So Foggy stood, feeling a little wobbly himself. Angling himself and Matt to block anyone else’s view.

“It says MaryFranklin, no space but a capital F. Looks like two names to me,” said Foggy. He felt he heart racing and he didn’t think it was due to the alcohol.

“Have you got one?” asked Matt, allowing Foggy to smooth his shirt back down while resting his own hands on Foggy’s shoulders. “Does it… does it say Matthew and Mary…”

Matt was swaying on his feet and part of Foggy wanted to lie but the quiet little ‘yes’ slipped out before he could stop it.

Matt sighed happily. “Just gotta find our Mary then… Oh god, Foggy, I’m gonna be sick!”

And he was, epically and nosily sick all over the table and most of a chair. And so Nelson and Murdock were banned from a bar for the first time.

Foggy dragged Matt back to the dorms. When he groaned his way into consciousness mid-morning of the next day Foggy was deliberately and obnoxiously cheerful.

“Well! Good morning, Sunshine. And how are we?” he asked sunnily.

“I hate you and everything you stand for,” said Matt with feeling. Burying his face into the pillow.

“So,” started Foggy, perching himself next to Matt on the bed. “How much do we remember about last night?”

“There was… a bar?” said Matt hesitantly. “I _know_ there was alcohol.”

“Hmmm, do you remember blowing chunks all over said bar?” Foggy grinned at his friends answering groan. “And flashing me your SoulMark?”

“Kill me now,” said Matt into the pillow.

“Alas, I cannot. I merely bring you painkillers and water. I shall leave them on the bedside table, okay? As I must depart to meet the fair maiden Marci.”

Matt raised his head enough to mumble. “She’s more like the dragon.”

When Foggy came back a few hours later Matt was curled up on top of the bedcovers with his earphones in. Foggy knocked the bed slightly to let Matt know he was home. 

“Foggy…” said Matt pulling the earphones out of his ears and sitting up. He paused for long enough that Foggy thought he’d forgotten what he was going to say. Then the words all came out in a rush. “DidyouseemySoulMarklastnight?”

“Yeah, sorry buddy,” said Foggy.

“No, it’s okay. I just… I’ve never seen it…” Matt trailed off looking sad. 

Foggy came to a decision. It was weird, but sad Matt could not be tolerated. “I could show you,” he said carefully.

Matt raised his head sharply, “looking” to the right of Foggy. “How?” he asked.

Foggy picked up a pencil and sat next to Matt. “Pass me your hand.” He ‘wrote’ on Matt’s hand with the pencil. “I could trace it for you?”

Matt swallowed and Foggy opened his mouth to take the offer back but Matt nodded and pulled his shirt over his head. Foggy just stared at all the pale skin and the dark lettering that stood out against it. That was _his_ name. Just like Matt's name was on him. Just like ‘Mary’ was on both of them.

“Foggy?” asked Matt.

“Yeah, I’m here. Hang on.” He put on hand on Matt's hip for balance then used the tip of the pencil to trace the letters. Matt held his breath and Foggy felt like his chest might explode. He traced the names twice then sat back. “Okay?”

“Yes,” said Matt pulling his shirt back over his head. “Thanks Foggy, I really mean that. I can’t feel it or anything. That’s the first time I’ve ever had any idea what it looks like.”

“Your welcome,” said Foggy sincerely. Happy he could give that to Matt. Even if it had made them both uncomfortable. 

“I know I’m not supposed to ask… but… do you have one?” asked Matt.

Which meant he didn’t remember. He didn’t remember what Foggy had said the night before. “No,” lied Foggy, Matt should have a choice, not feel pressured by something neither of them could control. If he ever showed an interest in dating Foggy, or the magical ‘Mary’ ever turned up, Foggy would tell him then

_”The only thing about SoulMarks that the terrible film ‘Written on Your Skin’ got right, was that a SoulMark is always the first name a person has. If you’re a Phillip that goes by Phil, anyone with your name as a SoulMark, that will say Phillip. However, if you have always been Phil and never Phillip, it will say Phil. That’s it, everything else in that movie is wrong. Do not use it in your essays. It is not a substitute for reading the text book!”_

Karen’s life fell apart on her twentieth birthday. 

Her Dad had been drinking, like he always did these days. He started shouting horrible things at her Mom, like he always did when he was drunk. But this time Karen had enough, she screamed at him to stop, but he just turned on her.

“You have the nerve to shout at _me_! Your nothing but a whore. With all the names on the men you’re gonna screw scrawled on your slut body by Satan himself!” her Dad shouted at her, his face right in hers. 

“I’d rather be that than a coward and a drunk who beats on his own wife!” Karen, or Mary as she was then, shouted back. Her Dad slapped her across the face. Mary stumbled and fell to the floor. She remembers feeling scared. More scared than she ever felt before, paralysed with it. Then came the bang. A large red stain quickly formed on his shirt, he looked… surprised. He went to turn to look behind himself but he slumped to the floor, a dead weight across Mary’s legs. She looked up to see her Mom with the gun. Mary opened her mouth and screamed.

There were police and a trial after that. Testimonies, and the watchful eyes of everybody in town. Everything was dragged out into the open, all the things her father had done. Most of the worst ones Mary hadn’t even known about. Her Mom was sentenced to six years for voluntary manslaughter. Mary visited her every week in prison. 

About two months into her sentence her Mom told her to leave. “Mary, please. Get out of here, go and don’t come back. Find something good in this world, honey. Don’t believe anything they tell you.”

“I can’t just leave you,” said Mary.

Her mother started to cry. “I believed it. Believed _him_. But it’s still there.”

“What is?” asked Mary, wishing the plastic window wasn’t between them.

Her Mom unwound the wide ribbon she always wore around her wrist, and held it up so Mary could see. The dark lettering that was still there, still spelling out ‘Paul’. “He wasn’t my Paul,” said he Mom voice shaking. “All those years, all he did, and I stayed because I thought…” she broke down then, crying too much to talk. When she’d calmed a little she told Mary that she didn’t want her to visit again. “Get out, honey. While you still can.”

That was the last thing Mary ever heard her Mother say.

Mary Morgan left and became Karen Page. New page, new chapter, brand new life. Karen didn’t trace her SoulMarks anymore and think about ‘meant to be’; she covered them in make-up and tried to forget they were there. Soon she had plenty to keep her mind off them.


	3. Chapter 3

_"Historically SoulMarks were considered to be a gift from God or a curse from the Devil. There to lead you either to salvation or to sin, but inescapable either way. However these days we recognise that people have choices. Some choose to ignore their Marks completely. There is no statistical evidence to point to couple with SoulMarks having more or less successful relationships than those without. As I have said to you all before, _all_ relationships require time, effort, and work.”_

Karen got involved in Union Allied and a murder. It was like everything just kept getting worse. Then she met Matt and Foggy. The name ‘Matt’ was enough to make her heart run a little faster. Factor into that the fact he listened, believed her when he had no reason to. She fell a little bit in love straight away. And he was gorgeous too, that didn’t hurt. But he seemed a little standoffish, pushed her away as much as he could while he was still protecting her. Karen was definitely no longer the romantic she had been as a child. Matt was a nice fantasy, but if he didn’t want more than that then Karen would deal with it.

Foggy snuck up on her. At first she barely noticed him, he seemed to be used to that reaction though. Maybe being Matt Murdock’s best friend had a downside. But more she got to know him the more it seemed to just be Foggy. He’d tell you how good he was all day long, but it was almost like he never expected anyone to _believe_ it. He was funny and sweet, stayed up with her all night to protect her from her own demons. He flirted and was wonderful but… he loved Matt, everyone could see that. She was a little worried about getting in the middle of that. She loved them both too much already to hurt them. She honestly didn’t connect ‘Foggy’ and ‘Franklin’ at first. She only found out through the paperwork in the office. The first time she saw the name ‘Franklin Nelson’ in black and white she dropped a full cup of coffee, which made her swear, loudly enough that Foggy and Matt came to check on her. 

“Sorry, I dropped my mug,” she said. Mopping the desk as best she could with a tissue from her bag. 

“Never mind,” said Foggy coming to help. “You managed to miss the great mountain of client files we have… oh no wait, we _don’t_ have.”

He smiled at her and it was like the sun coming up. “Your name’s Franklin?” she asked without thinking.

“Curse you paperwork,” he sighed overdramatically. “I’m glad you got a coffee dunking.”

“He really doesn’t like Franklin,” said Matt with a smile.

“People I _like_ call me Foggy,” he insisted.

“Everyone calls you Foggy,” laughed Matt.

“Hey I like everyone, I’m a friendly guy!” Foggy quipped back. 

Karen was struck all of a sudden with an overwhelming sense of _belonging_. Like this right here was exactly where she was supposed to be. Right here with Matthew and Franklin. She pushed the feeling away, she knew you couldn’t always trust SoulMarks. She’d seen what absolute faith in them could do. She had to be sure. 

Ben Ulric went a long way it giving her a little faith back. He was a genuinely good man, and he got it. That burning need to _know_ about something. So you could help people, yes of course, but mostly just so you could know. It was the first step in anything. He showed her how to find out. How to put all the conflicting pieces together and make a coherent picture, she liked it, it made her feel less powerless. Ben also loves his wife more than anything. In the way that Karen always dreamed about when she was a kid. He tells her stories about how they met on the way to see the care home (that Karen has tricked him into going to, she feels bad, but she has to know, Ben will understand). 

“We went to see ‘Written on Your Skin’, special showing for Valentine’s Day,” said Ben with a smirk

Karen groaned. “Oh that film is so bad. I feel like I should go back in time and tell my 10 year old self not to bother watching it.

Ben laughed, it was pretty awful. We went to a diner afterwards. She told me her SoulMark said ‘Fabio’,” said Ben with a laugh.

“No,” said Karen. “What did you say?”

“Well it was only our second date; I wasn’t sure what to say. A little bit early to bring up the whole subject of SoulMarks. But she had this look in her eye, and I knew my Mark had her name on it and I really wanted to get to know her. She made me… I don’t know…just happy. So I told her I’d been born ‘Fabio’ and we were clearly meant to be,” said Ben gazing out the window. 

Karen laughed. “You old romantic you,” she said with a smile.

“Turns out she had ‘Ben’ written on her shoulder, same spot as my ‘Doris’,” Ben said gazing out the window. “Oh, I’m sorry, that’s probably a bit too much information…” he said, blushing a little.

Karen smiled. “No, it’s… nice. I was starting to believe all that SoulMarks and ‘meant to be’ stuff was just something that happened in films.”

“Oh it happens in real life too, or at least it did to me. Being married was lots of work, but I wouldn’t have changed any of it,” said Ben smiling back.

That was the moment that Karen decided to tell Matt and Foggy about her SoulMarks. That it was worth the risk, she’d never in her whole life felt as comfortable as she did with Matt and Foggy. She knew that she never wanted to leave them. And she had to know, if they felt at least a little of this too.

Of course that was when the universe decided to remind her that this was something she wasn’t allowed to have.

Ben died, Matt and Foggy weren’t even talking, Karen _killed_ someone. Everything went wrong. Because of _Karen_. She’d found Fisk’s Mom, she’d killed Fisk’s right hand man, she’d come into Matt and Foggy’s lives and now they were falling apart. If they were really her soul mates, if she really loved them? The best thing she could do was keep her distance. She didn’t think she was strong enough to leave them all together, but she could hold them at arm’s length. 

_"A SoulMark can never be destroyed. Over the ages people have tried, no matter what is done to it, it will always find a way to come back. The longest time on record for scaring to a SoulMark is 20 hours. It cannot be burned off, or cut out. It has often been described as the most fundamental part of a person’s identity."_

The first thing was pain. Everywhere hurt. It pulled him from sleep; he recognised the groggy feeling of painkillers wearing off.

Matt woke to the sound of Foggy’s heartbeat. When they shared a living space that had been a comforting thing, sometimes he’d wake up in the middle of the night and Foggy’s heartbeat was a slow heavy thud across the room. Matt used it to block out other sounds so he could get back to sleep. (Sirens, crying, all the other sounds of the city at night.)

Now Foggy’s heartbeat was too fast. Panic, and worry, and fear, hung in the air so thick that it nearly choked him. He looked around, bloody bandages on the floor next to… next to the mask. Which meant it wasn’t on his face, which meant Foggy knew. And oh god, Matt had to get up.

“I wouldn’t if I were you,” said Foggy from somewhere behind the couch. “But then again maybe I would. What the hell do I know about Matt Murdock.” 

Matt had imagined telling Foggy about his senses lots of times, nearly had, more than once. He never even thought about telling Foggy about the mask. That was the point of it, so no-one would know. So that dark part of him couldn’t hurt the people he loved. Telling Foggy was worse than he ever could have dreamed. Because Foggy was so angry, Foggy rarely got angry, unlike Matt who felt some days that he got angry every five minutes. Foggy was also worried for Matt and scared for Matt, both of which just made the anger worse. Then there was the worst part. Worse than the anger. Foggy was _scared of him_ , he’d had to _ask_ if Matt had set the bombs. Because he wasn’t sure that Matt hadn’t blow up half of Hell Kitchen. That Matt wasn’t responsible for the wound in Foggy’s side. And just then, just for a moment, Matt really thought it was over. That he’d broken this relationship beyond any power to fix. 

But then Foggy said in a quiet, almost lost voice. “Claire had to stitch you up through your SoulMark. You’ve made a mess of it.”

“It’ll heal,” said Matt letting the certainty and hope he could feel into his voice. “You know it will.”

“Yeah,” said Foggy. “Bet it hurts though.”

“Yeah,” agreed Matt. “I wish it didn’t. But it’s done, there’s nothing I can do about that now. However much I wish it had gone differently. I wish it didn’t hurt, Foggy.” ‘I wish I hadn’t hurt you’ he added in his head.  
Foggy stayed and they talked it all out. Foggy agreed not to tell Karen. Which Matt had been terrified he wouldn’t do. Matt made Foggy into a liar, but his secret was safe.

“Every time I wasn’t telling the truth you knew?” asked Foggy, horrified.

“Yes,” said Matt. “You don’t do it much.”

“But you knew, when did I lie, Matt?” It was an accusation and a dare.

Matt hesitated then started talking; picking the small lies that didn’t really matter. “You… told me you liked Elektra, when you really couldn’t stand her. You broke up with that girl from Punjabi class, but you told me she’d broke up with you. You, you used to be attracted to me, when we first met, but you never did anything about it…” 

“That wasn’t a lie,” interrupted Foggy. “You weren’t interested, so I backed off. And for the record there’s no ‘used to’ about it. Although right now I kind of hate you too.”

That last part was a lie, and Matt couldn’t hold back the smile when he heard it. “I’ve got your name written on me, Foggy. Which I showed you, and I let you touch it even. How is that not interested?”

Foggy’s breathing changed, his heartbeat jumped. “SoulMarks don’t mean shit, Murdock.”

“Right, you don’t even have one,” said Matt, a little more bitterly than he intended. Matt knew he was pushing but he couldn’t help it.

Foggy’s heartbeat stopped for a split second then continued on faster than ever. “That’s not the same, not even close.”

“I know,” said Matt gently. 

“I’m leaving,” said Foggy. “You’ll be okay?” he asked half question, half statement.

“Yes, I will,” said Matt. “Where are you going?”

“I don’t know,” replied Foggy.

“Lie,” said Matt quietly enough that he didn’t think Foggy would hear.

But Foggy did, he stopped in his tracks. “Fine, I know. But I’m not telling you. Okay.”

“Okay,” agreed Matt.

Foggy opened the door to leave. “And Matt if you need anything. Call Karen,” he shot at Matt, and then he was gone.


	4. Chapter 4

_”You shouldn’t put your life on hold waiting for a name. Live your life, or maybe you’ll miss your chance.“_

Foggy went to Marci’s, she wasn’t in so he sat on the steps of her apartment building with his head in this hands. 

Matt is the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen.

It didn’t make any _sense_. Matt is, Matt. Matt is an idealist and charming for a short period of time (awful with people over the long term). Matt is smart, brilliant even, he’s also a sarcastic little shit but Foggy likes that. Matt is kind of a dork, and makes Foggy laugh, and gets giggly drunk on two drinks, and _goes out at night to beat up criminals._

Matt _is_ the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen.

It’s like one of those pictures where you can see the old lady or the young girl but not both at the same time. But now Foggy is actually _looking_ he can maybe see the parts of the old lady that could turn into the young girl if you tilt your head and squint. Matt has a temper, Matt carries the weight of the world, Matt has to prove himself all the time. Matt wants to save the world, despite what it might cost him. He can see how Matt, a Matt with super senses and training, could think he had to go out and save people. How angry he would get, hearing - _knowing_ \- all the evil out there. Look long enough and you can’t see the old lady at all. Goofy, dorky, best friend Matt disappears behind the mask.

“Weird,” said Marci, her voice breaking into his thoughts. “I really don’t remember ordering any pathetic looking ex-boyfriends.”

“Marci!” he saying looking up and plastering a bright grin on his face. “Those are lovely shoes. But I think you’ve still got some goop on them from trampling all over the less fortunate.”

Marci puts her hand on her hip and stares down at him. Looking stern and disapproving, but the small smirk at the corner of her mouth giving her away. “Well we can’t all be as pure and lily-white as Saint Murdock now, can we?”

Foggy feels the grin drop off his face. “I don’t want to talk about Matt.” His voice sounds cold even to him.

Marci looked genuinely worried for a second before she buries the expression under fake annoyance. “Get up off my step and come inside. Your cheap suit is lowering property prices, which charity shop reject bin did you fish it out of anyway?”

God bless Marci. “Trying to talk me out of my clothes, counsellor?” asked Foggy, deliberately waggling his eyebrows in Marci’s direction.

Marci didn’t laugh, but Foggy could tell it was a close run thing. “Only if you promise to be a very good boy,” she said with a wink.

Marci was fun, and so sexy, and enthusiastic, and made it easy not to think for a few hours. Sex with Marci was never anything less than spectacular, but morning had to come eventually. Foggy lay in Marci’s bed, pretending to sleep while she got ready. 

“Come on,” said Marci impatiently. “You’ll be late for work.”

“I’m not going in,” said Foggy rolling onto his back.

“Wow,” said Marci dropping heavily onto the bed next to him. “You and Saint Murdock really did fall out then?”

Foggy glared at her.

“Oh come on!” said Marci sounding annoyed. “You’ll forgive him. You always do.”

“He lied,” said Foggy stubbornly.

“So? Everyone lies, Foggy-bear. Even you,” she replied.

“Not like that. Not to him,” said Foggy, studying the celling intently.

“You’ve been in love with him forever,” said Marci poking Foggy’s SoulMark hard enough to make him yelp. “You never told him. I know people can get weird about SoulMarks, but even if his SoulMark doesn’t say you, he clearly loves you back. You’re the only friend he had at Columbia.”

“I was not,” said Foggy with a frown. The instinct to defend Matt was too ingrained to ignore. Marci just snorted. “I might have misled you, Matt’s SoulMark doesn’t just say Mary, it says Franklin too. I was going to tell him when Mary showed up, at least that’s what I told myself,” said Foggy more to himself than to Marci.

“So you’re hanging all your hopes on some mystery woman who may live a thousand miles away. With one of the commonest names on the planet,” said Marci with a tone that accused Foggy of being an idiot. “You do realise you’re only ever this stupid when Murdock is involved, right?”

“I know who Mary is, at least I think I do,” admitted Foggy. “I’ve known for a while. I can’t tell them. I really want to but… what if I’m like Rosalind?” he asked, confessing a fear he’d always lived with. “What if I pull all this together, convince them to try and then just walk out on them. She did it, maybe I could too.”

Marci rolled her eyes and stood up. “Like anything up to and including at act of God could make you leave Murdock. I don’t have enough time for your drama; I have to go to work. Let yourself out.” She stalked out of the room, but stopped at the doorway. She spoke without looking back. “Watching Joe’s name fade was the worst feeling in the world. I can’t imagine how much worse it would have been if we’d never even given it a try. Think about that, Foggy-bear.”

_” SoulMarks are a guide, not a rulebook, trust your heart. Love is always worth a little risk.”_

It was awful watching Matt and Foggy fight. Karen felt like someone broke her heart and hid the pieces. But they pulled it together somehow. The three of them, with help from Elena, Ben, even the newly named Daredevil. Fisk was in prison, where he belonged. She looked at the sign as Foggy put it up. Nelson and Murdock. They were still careful around each other, but the wounds were healing. Her own wounds were still raw, but she felt safe here with the both of them. She smiled as Matt ran his fingers over the sign.

“I have a SoulMark,” said Foggy suddenly, out of the blue.

Matt stiffened slightly then relaxed. “I knew that,” he said carefully. His hand frozen in place on the sign.

“Right, because you knew I was lying,” replied Foggy hanging his head. Karen felt lost.

“I never knew why,” said Matt and it sounded almost pleading.

“We should go up to the office,” said Foggy as if he suddenly realised they were on a public street.

Matt nodded. 

“I’ll leave you to it,” said Karen ducking her head and going to walk past them. If this was some declaration that didn’t involve her, well she didn’t think she could stand that right now.

Foggy moved to block her way. “Please Karen, you need to come too. Just give me half an hour. Okay? Please?”

Karen nodded, because who could turn away a Foggy Nelson who looked that lost?

They walked up to the office. Foggy had barely closed the door before Matt was talking.

“Why did you lie about your Mark?” he asked still pleading, still sounding hurt.

“Why do you think?” asked Foggy, not able look at anyone.

Matt barked a broken laugh that got caught in his throat. “Honestly. I thought you were trying to spare me. You’ve seen mine, you know you’re on it. I guess… that I’m not on yours and you were trying to spare me.”

“Might not be me,” said Foggy. “Could be any Franklin…”

“It’s you,” interrupted Matt. “It could only be you.”

“My SoulMark says Matthew,” said Foggy. Matt grasped and Karen wondered if she could creep out without them noticing. “And Mary.”

Karen’s heart actually stopped beating for a second and she could swear she forgot how to breathe. 

“Like mine,” whispered Matt, wonderment in his voice.

“You Mark says Mary?” she asked, voice croaky with hope and fear.

“MaryFranklin,” said Matt, he turned in her direction and frowned. “Karen? Are you okay?”

Karen felt her legs go wobbly. Foggy helped her to a chair. “She wasn’t always Karen,” he said. Karen looked at him with shock. He didn’t know, he couldn’t know.

“When you were arrested, they took your fingerprints. It was in your file,” said Foggy gently crouched by the side of the chair. “I don’t think Matt ever got around to reading the whole thing. Everything happened so fast. But it said that you changed your name legally when you were twenty. That you used to be…”

“Mary Morgan,” said Karen, not looking away from Foggy. Honestly she felt like she might float away otherwise.

“I think… you might be…” stuttered Foggy.

“Our Mary,” interrupted Matt, the wonder still in his voice. His words sent a shot of warmth through Karen. She looked between the two of them, and toed off her shoes. It took Foggy a spilt second to comprehend what he was looking at then he gasped.

“Foggy!” said Matt. “What is it, your heartbeat went crazy, I…”

“Wait,” said Karen confused. “How can you hear his heartbeat?”

“She’s got two SoulMarks, Matt,” said Foggy.

“Matthew and Franklin?” asked Matt sounding so hopeful it hurt.

Karen nodded, and then laughed. “Sorry, I nodded.”

Matt laughed too, but suddenly Foggy was up and over the other side of the room.

“Foggy,” said Matt, moving towards him.

“No,” said Foggy. “Please let me say this. I love you, Matt. And I’m falling in love with Karen too and I want… But I don’t want you to do this just because of marks on skin that we had no control over. I don’t… what if I’m not what you want? I can’t do this for it to fall apart. I… It needs to be more than fate. We need to want to.”

“Foggy…” said Matt. But it was like words failed him, he was left staring at Foggy like Foggy was the answer to everything.

“You two make me feel like I belong,” said Karen into the heavy silence. “I never felt like that ever before. You make me feel like it’s a good thing to be me.”

“I always wanted you,” said Matt, his voice breaking a little. “But you didn’t… Foggy you didn’t want _me_ , so I settled for being your friend. But I hated sharing you. I chased off the other friends you had. You had to have noticed that? Marci did, she hates me for a reason you know.”

“She doesn’t hate you,” said Foggy.

“Liar,” said Matt with a sad smile. “The only person who doesn’t make my skin crawl when they’re around us is Karen. Now I know why.” 

Matt got closer to Foggy as he spoke. Foggy was pulled into himself, trying to make himself smaller. “I can’t lose you Matt, I don’t think I’d survive it.”

“I won’t let you,” said Karen finding some inner stash of bravery she didn’t know she had. “I’ll keep us together. Whatever it takes.”

Matt had reached Foggy as Foggy started to cry. He pulled Foggy into a one armed hug and flailed with his other arm until Karen caught it and stepped into the hug as well.


	5. Epilogue

“You know,” said Karen curled up against Foggy’s chest with Matt behind her. “When I was a kid I thought SoulMarks were the most beautiful things in the world. But I think Foggy’s is beautiful even for a SoulMark.”

Foggy could feel himself blush, Matt shifted behind Karen so he could get his hands on Foggy. “What does it look like?” he asked Karen. “You know I don’t even know where it is?”

Karen took one of Matt’s hands and placed it over Foggy’s heart. “It’s here,” she said softly. “Can you feel it?”

“No, but I can feel his heartbeat. It’s fast,” he commented with a smirk. Foggy would kick him if he could work out a way not to hit Karen too.

“You could trace it for him,” said Foggy, proud that he didn’t stumble on the words. “So he has an idea, of what it’s like.”

Karen takes hold of one of Matt’s fingers and traces the large ‘m’. “This is the M in both our names,” she narrated. “The rest of your name is here.” She traced over the letters slowly with Matt’s finger. Foggy shuddered underneath them. “Keep still you,” mock scolded Karen.

“Foggy did this to me once, in college,” Matt whispered into her ear. “Because I wanted to know what mine said without having to rely on what other people told me.” 

Karen shivered at Matts words. “Keep still you,” said Foggy softly.

Karen moved Matt’s finger down to the ‘a’ of ‘Mary’. “This is where the rest of my name starts.” She lead Matt’s finger over the rest of the letters. “You and me, connected, over the top of Foggy’s heart.”

“That is beautiful,” said Matt, pressing a kiss to the back of Karen’s neck. “What about yours?”

“On top of her feet, you get the left one, I get the right.” said Foggy, his voice was pitched low and rougher than usual with approaching sleep. “I’d trace them for you, but that would involve moving…”

“No, no moving right now,” Matt said tightening an arm round Karen. “Tomorrow we’ll do that.”

“They’re not as beautifully symbolic as Foggy’s,” sighed Karen.

“I disagree,” said Foggy. “Those very wonderful feet had to get you all the way to us. That’s beautiful to me.”

“I concur,” said Matt sleepily.

“And Matt’s… well I can’t think of a beautiful thing about ribs _right now_. Give me a minute,” said Foggy yawning.

“Have the rest of my life,” said Matt as his eyes closed.

“Sap,” accused Foggy with so much fondness it made Matt’s heart hurt. Karen giggled and it sounded like music. They drifted off to sleep, together at last.


End file.
